How Petunia met Regulus
by Karana the Firebender
Summary: Today wasn't supposed to go like this. Today was supposed to be a happy day for Petunia's family. Today was Lily's day. Her wedding day. But instead of being at the after-party, Petunia, the bride's sister, sat alone in this little bar, somewhere in the middle of London.


Written for Secret Santa event at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry for Lin. Sorry Lin for not using all of your prompts.

You can interpret this ending however you want.

Betaread by: Raven of the Shadows

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Today wasn't supposed to go like this. Today was supposed to be a happy day for Petunia's family. Today was Lily's day. Her wedding day. But instead of being at the after-party, Petunia, the bride's sister, sat alone in this little bar, somewhere in the middle of London. She hadn't wanted to ditch the party; rather, she had wanted to stay there, really. In the morning, before the wedding began, she had promised herself that she would stay there as long as the festivities lasted, that she would be friendly to her sister's friends, and that she would stand all those wizards... for her sister. She could do that, right? After all, her sister should at least get her support on her wedding day.

But then everything went haywire.

The-those abnormal people were showing off their skills. Exploding fireworks, magic tricks that were impossible for human magicians, and whatnot. It was fun at first, but after a while, but then her temper started rising.

Why would her sister arrange for all of these wizards to perform like monkeys in front of her, even when Lily knew how desperately she, Petunia, had always wished to have magic.

But she did not want to spoil the ceremony with a temper tantrum. And so, the older sister had left, with an apology that her boyfriend had called her; that it was an emergency and she had to leave immediately.

A lie of course; but she just couldn't stand the sight of all those wizards and witches, those freaks, with their little magic show anymore. She had to get away from them.

She didn't want to be alone at home, so Petunia had driven to her boyfriend's house, pushing the day's events to the back of her head and turning her thoughts to him.

He had been so perfect in her eyes. He, Vernon Dursley, had been the man of her dreams—the man she wanted to marry. A normal human without any freakish powers—or muggle as her sister called him—with a normal job in a normal world that everyone could see.

The key word being was.

For when she arrived at his house, parking the car and getting of, planning to surprise him, she had caught him and that… that bitch making out in his backyard. That smelly,stinky slut, with unwashed hair that reached her butt, they had both gone to school with her. He always swore he hated her.

In tears, she had stormed away. Away from her traitorous boyfriend—now ex-boyfriend.

She had driven through London, angry tears trickling down her cheeks, with no specific place in mind, until she found a nice, decent-looking pub. And there she was now, sitting alone in her gloom, probably with red puffy eyes from all the crying, her mind flashing back to how freaking great her day had been.

Thinking back, maybe staying at the wedding wouldn't have been such a bad idea.

At least this pub she had ended up in was a decent one—probably a place for high-class society people, if the costs were anything to go by. She forced herself to stop her pity-party and instead looked around. There weren't many people there, yet, but it was still early evening and the place would probably fill up when the evening dragged into the late night.

On a second thought, probably it wasn't for such well-to-do families. At the table next to her, a couple of teens sat laughing and talking rather loudly about indecent topics, cocky smirks on their faces. One of them looked in her direction and winked. She turned away. On the other side a couple was making out. The male still had a glass full of wine in his hand, and the liquid sloshed to the table as he leaned forward, groping at the woman's chest. Drops of the wine made their way down the table and onto the floor, and Petunia wrinkled her nose in disdain.

"Excuse me, can I take a seat here?"

The voice startled her a bit and she looked up from her seat. A young man, a couple of younger than her, was the owner of her voice. He was dressed casually, yet elegantly. His long, black hair curled gracefully, reaching his chin, and his grey eyes gave him a mysterious look. She noticed how nicely the young man was dressed, his fine clothes were of a deep, beautiful black and he wore a green scarf. Something about him reminded her of the best man at her sisters wedding. Something she just couldn't put her finger on. He was an acceptable company, Petunia thought, for the time being.

She just shrugged and nodded, deciding to remain quiet. Maybe he would leave in search of another person to talk to, that way. She turned back to brooding.

"Had a rough day, huh?" he asked, causing her to look at him again. She nodded. "Want to talk about it?"

"I would rather not." she replied.

He leaned back in his seat; she could feel his eyes watching her. His gaze wasn't intense or longing. He was studying her as if she were an interesting but defected specimen, trying to find out what was wrong with her.

She let out a sigh. Maybe speaking it out loud would help. "Today was my sister's wedding… and I wanted to stay there but—but I couldn't just stand her friends anymore." Her tone had become rather loud at the end. "and so I left," she finished lamely. He raised a brow. "And then… I was planning to go to my boyfriend's house for a surprise visit, a-and he was making out with some…" Her voice shook and she could feel wetness on her cheeks. " So I ran away and ended up here."

She shook her head. What was wrong with her? Had she just really told a complete stranger about what happened today? She had no idea who this man was or what he wanted from her.

He just smiled. "See, isn't it better now that you have gotten it all off your chest?"

What was wrong with him? He didn't even know her and yet here he was talking to her like they were best friends or something.

"So, you don't like your sisters friends?" She nodded. "I don't like my brothers' friends either."

"You have a brother?" she asked.

"Yeah. An elder one. We don't get along very well."

Petunia didn't know why this stranger caught her interest. She didn't even know his name; neither he hers. But she wanted the conversation to continue so she said, "My sister and me don't get along either. We used to when we were kids—we were best friends, in fact—but then… she went to this boarding school because she was 'specifically gifted.' I couldn't go there. The distance sort of broke our bond."

"Something similar with me and my brother. We went to the same school, but we got caught up in two different groups, two opposing groups. We fell apart after that. In fact, I think he hates me."

"I don't think that's true."

He looked at her, clearly surprised. "You don't?"

"Look, I may act like I hate Lily, but deep down, I still love her. She's my little sister after all. And I'm sure it's the same with your brother. Deep down he loves you. And I'm sure you love him too. You should go talk to him; sort out your problems. Having a good relationship with your sibling is one of the best things in the world; I don't think such it should be destroyed by unimportant little things."

"Maybe you're right; maybe I should talk to him." He smirked as he stood up to leave "Oh, and maybe you should take your own advice by heart. Talk to your sister. I'm sure she misses you as much as you do her."

He turned to leave but Petunia stopped him, grabbing his wrist. Her fingers tingled at the contact and she pulled her hand back. "Wait, I haven't gotten your name."

"Oh, right. How stupid of me. I'm Regulus. Regulus Black. And you are?"

"Petunia Evans."

"Well, it was nice meeting you, Petunia." He paused, as if thinking something, then shrugged. "Maybe we could meet again? But next time somewhere else?"

Petunia's lips tugged into a smile. It was a happy smile. A real happy one—one she hadn't smiled since Lily left for Hogwarts.

"That would be nice," she said. "Wait, I'll give you my address and number, okay?" Regulus frowned at 'number,' but she was too busy scribbling on an unused tissue to notice that. "Here."

He pocketed it and lifted a hand in farewell. He was then gone, and Petunia was left alone. But this time, the loneliness was not biting. She smiled again. Her sadness was gone. Maybe she should go back to that wedding.


End file.
